Posted on 04/19/2012 7:57:33 PM PDT by doug from upland
According to the LA Times, Eight years ago, the Los Angeles Board of Education adopted an ambitious plan to have all students take college-prep classes to raise academic standards in the nation's second-largest school district.
Now, that plan is about to take effect: Beginning this fall, incoming freshmen will have to pass those classes to graduate.
On Tuesday, district officials backtracked, offering details of a proposal to reduce overall graduation requirements and allow students to pass those classes with a D grade.
They must change course, Los Angeles Unified School District officials said, or they would open the doors to scores of dropouts and others who can't pass the more rigorous requirements.
The new plan, which still must be approved by the board, would allow students to graduate with 25% fewer credits.
"If we don't do something, we have to be prepared to be pushing out kids as dropouts," said Deputy Supt. Jaime Aquino at a school-board committee meeting Tuesday. "We face a massive dropout rate in four years."
Currently, a student must earn 230 credits to graduate.
Under the proposal, that requirement would be reduced to 170 credits, the minimum set by the California Department of Education.
Among the requirements to be dropped are: health/life skills, technology and electives that cover a broad range of subjects, including calculus and journalism.
"I know of no other school district in California that is reducing graduation requirements by 60 units and calling it an improvement," said former senior district official Sharon Robinson, who now is an advisor to school board member Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte.
LaMotte added that she isn't convinced the district can carry out the policy successfully.
Former school board member David Tokofsky, who supported the original plan, also was bothered by the reduced credit requirement.
He said that officials instead should focus on getting younger students prepared to succeed in high school.
Students who pass all their classes typically would earn a minimum 180 credits by the end of their junior year.
Under the staff proposal, students also could pass the college-prep classes with a D even though California's public university systems require a C or better for admission.
Former school board member Marlene Canter, who also supported the more rigorous requirements, said, "It doesn't make sense," to push for a college-prep curriculum but not the grades necessary for the courses to count.
District officials said they hope to raise the bar -- mandating that students earn at least a C -- for the class of 2017.
The expectation is that even D students benefit from more difficult classes, even if they don't qualify for a four-year college.
"These courses are the markers of a more rigorous curriculum," said USC education professor Guilbert Hentschke.
Read more: http://www.kfiam640.com/pages/Handel2.html?article=10059371#ixzz1sXtGHLBu
Yep. Sounds like LAUSD.
Just showing up is too hard?
Oh, good grief. Just give them a high school diploma when they finish 6th grade (and a taxpayer paid spot in college)and be done with it. Why even go through the motions.
Why all the worry over this? These students are the future employees at the California Department of Motor Vehicles!
I believe I had a clerk at my local DMV office last month that must have been one of these students.
The real concern of the LAUSD is that their large minority population has a historically lower academic achievement record, lower tested IQ and lower SAT scores.
When those students are faced with near-certain failure to graduate by their sophomore year, they will drop out.
Then the per-pupil funding of high schools drops and teachers and administrators lose good paying union jobs.
Some high school teachers make $80k with 3 months off every year. Retire at 55 with 90% of base salary and free medical care for life.
THAT's what they're concerned about.
Public education = quagmire
Perhaps now democratic voters will finally understand just what liberalism means in this country. How anyone can read about this proposal and NOT recognize how liberals are destroying this nation from the inside out stumps me.
Why even have students attend high school? Just give them their diplomas and send them on their way. Think of the savings in that.
Just following this assinine nonsense to it’s logical conclusion.
One important item is missing from this story. Or more to the point, one important character:
$
That’s right. Good ol’ ASCII character number 36. (24 for you hexadecimal fans.) Dollars. Semoleons. Moolah. Dinero. Wampum. Cashy money. Each dropout costs the district $40 per day in State funds. They could give a rat’s ass about whether or not Johnny can read or write; they care about him holding a seat down and getting them that State money. By lowering standards, they retain more students. The more students they retain each day, the more $40 checks they receive from Uncle Jerry.
ping
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